Thai Green Papaya Salad

Today our presentation is a familiar Thai salad, Thai green papaya salad or Spicy fresh papaya salad (Som Tam Ma-la-kor, called in Thai) Also make for a perfect match with steamed sticky rice and fried chicken. Original from Northeast of Thailand. It takes me a long time to get fresh green papaya. Serve plain or make a perfect match with steamed sticky rice and fried chicken.

Ingredients (serve 1 portion)

1 cup fresh green papaya, peeled, wash and chop into thin slices (a tradition way and more crispy than use a grater)

1/4 cup long beans, cut 1 inch estimated

1 tomato, slice wedge

1-5 Thai chili

5-6 Dried shrimps

1/4 cup Roasted peanuts (today I use roasted cashew nuts)

1 Tbsp Palm sugar, I use a grater to grate palm sugar so it will dissolve easy when pound, this is option

0.5 – 1 Tbsp of fish sauce, 0.5 Tbsp of lime juice, 0.5 Tbsp of tamarind juice, (Tamarind juice is an option that you can only use 1 Tbsp of lime juice is fine)

One mortar I have is small and it is granite so we will make the dressing and place in a mixing bowl, then add crush long bean and tomato, crush peanuts and add chopped papaya last then toss gently all over before transfer to a serving plate.

Tamarind juice is an option but to use only lime juice is fine. I like the flavor of Tamarind and it adds a bit of colour and can be less expensive than lime.

A nice traditional meal would be green papaya salad with fried chicken and steamed sticky rice.